Humster

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A hybrid cell line made from hamster oocyte fertilized with human sperm routinely created for mainly two reasons:

Somatic cell hybrids between hamster or mouse and man have been used for mapping of various traits at least since the 1970s.

[edit] Ethical discussions

Several, primarily Catholic, countries have banned in vitro generation of hybrid cell lines. The ethical issue often raised is the idea that:

  • Human embryos get their inherently "human" qualities (soul) at the moment of fertilization - a philosophy adopted to a varying extent by many countries in their legal regulations about ES cell lines.
  • Animals lack a soul

The existence of hybrid cell lines would seem to cause a logical conflict for people that hold the two above statements for true.

[edit] References

http://www.humboldt.edu/~essays/ballantyne.html

Junca et al. (1983) Evaluation of human sperm fertility by interspecific (human spermatozoa-hamster oocytes) in vitro fertilization. Acta Eur. Fertil. 14, 191-196